


The Waves to Catch Your Fall

by KrisseyCrystal (AisukuriMuStudio)



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Pre-Game(s), Sorey's not a very good teacher but he tries, Swimming, he does the best he can, that's all it is just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-16
Updated: 2017-09-16
Packaged: 2018-12-30 07:22:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12103635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AisukuriMuStudio/pseuds/KrisseyCrystal
Summary: One lazy afternoon in Elysia, Sorey takes it upon himself to try to teach Mikleo how to swim.It goes just about as well as they had expected.





	The Waves to Catch Your Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [pastelgabby](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pastelgabby/gifts).



> For the Gab, and whoever else needs something fluffy and light-hearted today.
> 
> (And also, bless Rays for the lovely tidbit that Mikleo can't swim. What exciting new doors have suddenly been opened for us...)
> 
> Title taken from "The Water Beneath You" by The Naked and Famous.

Mikleo fights off a shiver at the press of tanned fingers against his knobby ankles. His leg jerks, an electric, ticklish sensation darting across his skin and up to the back of his skull. He swings his arms through the water, splashing empty air in front of him; he swears quietly.  


“ _Sorey_ —“  


“—Mikleo.”  


Mikleo flushes at the flat call of his name. He huffs. This time, he tries to stay still, but the hands against his ankles continue to make him squirm involuntarily.  


“Mikleo, you’re making this harder than it has to be! Just stay still!”  


“Sorey, I’m literally holding on to nothing right now.”  


“You’ll be okay. You’re in the _water_.”  


“Yes. And in case you haven’t noticed, that’s half of my _problem_.”  


This time, Sorey snickers. His arm, wrapped around Mikleo’s middle, is sure and firm, unyielding; still, somehow the water seraph feels uncertain. He takes a breath but it’s shaky. Butterflies turn over and over in his stomach.  


“I’ve got you,” Sorey says and his voice is soft and low. Mikleo swallows. “I won’t let you sink, you know.”  


“I still don’t know how _you_ managed to somehow learn how to swim without _me_.”  


“I could have sworn I thought you were with me when Mason taught me.” Sorey shrugs and Mikleo can feel the motion through the human’s arms. His own limbs wobble in the water again. “Sorry. But then again, I thought you were with me for a lot of stuff, apparently.”  


“Well, I usually _was,_ ” Mikleo mumbles.  


Sorey shakes his head. The motion makes his earrings swing around his cheeks. His smile, as always, is as bright as the sun. “Well, that just means _I_ get to have fun teaching you, now!”  


“’Fun,’” Mikleo echoes with a sigh. “Because that’s what this is supposed to be. Right.”  


Sorey snickers again and Mikleo jumps as the brunet’s hand grasps his ankle again, trying to stretch out his leg. “What, are you _afraid_ , Mikleo? Of your own _element_?”  


“What? No…! Of course not.”  


“You keep curling up your legs.”  


“That’s because you’re _tickling_ me—“  


“—uh-huh.” There is an obvious smile in his voice. Mikleo presses his mouth just against the surface of the water and blows bubbles. Sorey openly laughs.  


“Okay, okay,” the human relents. His hand retreats from Mikleo’s leg. Finally, the seraph can feel his nerves cease their endless dancing. Mikleo lifts his face from the water. “I’ll stop,” Sorey continues, “But you’ve got to remember to kick more than just your feet, okay?”  


Mikleo nods. “Yeah, okay.”  


“Okay.” Sorey’s gaze passes over his best friend’s form. After another moment of pause, he wraps his other arm underneath Mikleo’s abdomen. “Ready?”  


Mikleo hesitates. “…you’re not going to let go, right?”  


“Mikleo,” Sorey’s smile is very wide now. Even without seeing it, Mikleo can hear the stretch of it in his voice. “What did I just say?”  


“All right, all right.” Mikleo inhales slowly, carefully. He nods. “All right. I’m ready.”  


“Okay. Then start with your arms. The way we talked about, all right?”  


Mikleo nods again. His hands, extended out in front of him, start cycling through the water. Slow motions, one after another with a turn and then a rotate, a turn and then a rotate. He visualizes his arms like wheels, or tries to, anyway.  


Sorey speaks again a few beats later. “Okay—good—good—now, kick your legs.”  


With baited breath, Mikleo starts moving his legs, scissoring them. An awkward timing begins to form between arm pumps and leg swings, not completely synched or stable. Then, with enough repetitions, somehow a synchronized motion appears. Winding his arm and kicking his leg out becomes a unanimous action. Mikleo fights off the small thrill in his chest he can feel at his own steady rhythm.  


Sorey makes a sound of joy. “Hey! There you go! Now you’re getting it!”  


Mikleo doesn’t dare breathe.  


He lasts a whole two more minutes before suddenly the arms around his stomach pull away. Mikleo flails. His face hits the water and he submerges completely.  


In his haste to get back to the surface, Mikleo’s feet kick into the gooey, lumpy floor of the lake bottom. He pulls up his feet sharply, then gathers his courage and stuffs his toes more forcefully into the mess. He shoves himself upward and breaks the surface with a large gasp. Spluttering coughs immediately wrack his form.  


“S- _Sorey_ !” he cries. Pale hands reach for his bangs, frantically moving them out of his eyes. His circlet gleams in the sun. “What the hell was _that_ —you said you wouldn’t let go!”  


“Sorry!” Sorey laughs. His form moves closer, shoulders bunched and head ducked so low his chin brushes the water. Sheepish red is spread across his cheeks. “I’m sorry! You were just doing so well! I thought you wouldn’t notice—“  


Mikleo splashes him.  


Sorey laughs. Immediately, he splashes back, rearing up in the water.  


Mikleo feels like he should be angry. And he is—all for about the span of six seconds. Then there’s water everywhere, falling around them, shoved up into scrunched, laughing faces and Sorey is grinning and the sun is bright and warm Mikleo forgets all about the fact that he should be learning how to swim. There’s just joy here, in their own little forgotten corner off of the Aroundight Forest. There’s just love.  


When the teasing dies down, Sorey gradually nears Mikleo again. There are happy and giggling hums escaping his closed mouth. The image reminds the water seraph faintly of a shark and Mikleo, trying to straighten his hair, finds he does not trust those gleaming green eyes one bit.  


“Sorey—“  


“—c’mon, Mikleo. You really were doing _great_ —“  


“—Sorey, don’t you _dare_ —“  


“—I think you _know_ how to swim, you just don’t _think_ you do—“  


“—Sorey, you’re just saying that and you _know it_.” Mikleo tries not to laugh, but he can’t help it. Somehow, even through the water, Sorey’s touch sends jittery lightning throughout him when he touches his sides. “Let go of me—“  


“—c’mon, Mikleo. At least try wading!”  


“No—Sorey— _no_ —“  


Sorey’s hands are insistent, pulling Mikleo out further into the deeper part of the lake. Mikleo’s feet slip from the muddy lake floor. He scrambles, at a loss for balance. His arms brace themselves instantly around Sorey, the only thing keeping him afloat as Sorey guides him out towards the center of the body of water. Mikleo is clutching him so tightly, he can feel the awkward press of Sorey’s forehead right under his jaw. Sorey’s nose is somewhere jammed against the base of his neck.  


“Sorey—“  


Sorey just laughs. “Mikleo, _relax_.”  


“Sorey,” Mikleo says again. He feels like he can’t get enough breath in. Still, Sorey eases him further and further from the safety of the shallower waters.  


“ _Sorey,_ ” his voice grows insistent; his hold squeezes tighter around Sorey’s shoulders first. His arms then crawl upward to wrap around the brunet’s head. “SoreySoreySoreySoreySoreySoreySoreySorey—“  


“—it’s okay!” Mikleo can feel Sorey shake, he’s laughing so hard. His arms wrap more fully around Mikleo’s bare waist. He squeezes him once. “It’s _okay_ , Mikleo. This time, I really won’t let you go.”  


Mikleo takes a shaky breath. He cannot feel the lake bottom. He does not know how deep they are. “You b-better not. I’ll kill you myself if you do.”  


Sorey snickers and Mikleo pulls sharply on a lock of hair at the back of his head. “I promise. I won’t.”  


Mikleo tries to breathe easy.  


It becomes less difficult the longer Sorey just holds him there in the center of the lake. His legs are slowly kicking back and forth in the murky depths while Mikleo’s are wrapped around his waist. Mikleo would be embarrassed about their position if he wasn’t so focused on not panicking and just trusting the idiot of a human he somehow thinks of as his other half.  


“Here,” Sorey finally says, and his arms loosen from around Mikleo to let his hands press against his sides. Mikleo tries not to jerk at the sensitivity of his own skin. “How about we try floating? You can do that much, right?”  


“Well, staying afloat sounds pretty ideal right now,” Mikleo mumbles and Sorey chuckles.  


The brunet nods. “Okay. Close enough to what I actually said,” he murmurs and he helps ease Mikleo from clinging to him so tightly. “Here. Lie back.”  


“Lie _back_ —?”  


“You’ll be _fine_. This time, I really won’t let go.”  


Mikleo takes a breath and lets Sorey guide him onto his back. He can feel the press of Sorey’s arms against his spine again, keeping him up enough in the water that his chest is exposed to the air. It feels cold and awkward, and Mikleo swallows as the water laps over his ears and splays his short, pale hair around his head. He looks to Sorey. “All right. Now what?”  


“Now, you float.”  


“How?”  


“Uh.” There’s a beat before Sorey’s cheeks flush a brilliant and adorable red. “I—I don’t really know. You kind of just lie there and. Y’know. Float.”  


“…Sorey?”  


“Yeah?”  


“Don’t take offense to this. But you’re the worst kind of teacher.”  


Sorey laughs yet again. “Yeah,” he gasps when his chest finally stops rumbling with unbridled joy. “Yeah, okay.”  


Mikleo hums. A small smile slides onto his face as he lies there in the water, Sorey patiently keeping him lifted.  


“…Sorey?”  


“Hm?”  


_There’s never a moment you’ll really let go of me, right?_  


Mikleo sighs into the sky. He slowly blinks. “Don’t move. Okay?”  


Sorey chuckles, and it’s as warm as the sun overhead. “Okay. I won’t.”


End file.
